


Making Connections

by darklioness82



Category: The Bletchley Circle, The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco (TV)
Genre: F/F, Femslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-27 01:46:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15675558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darklioness82/pseuds/darklioness82
Summary: Jean and Hailey find they have more in common than they realised.





	1. Discoveries

**Author's Note:**

> I'm hoping to post the second chapter before the fourth episode airs... if I can find a couple of hours to finish editing it!

“Did you never wanted to get married Jean?” As usual, Hailey had blurted out what was in her head before she’d stopped to really think about what she was asking. The two of them had just had an animated couple of hours theorising over their latest mystery and mapping out key locations from the patterns they’d found, before retiring to the settee with a couple of well-deserved whiskeys. They’d moved on from talking about the case and had begun to exchange some stories from each of their pasts when Hailey had posed her question. Fortunately Jean was in a favourable enough mood to answer it.

 

“I’m not the marrying kind.” She stated dismissively, as though it weren't the first, or even second time she'd been asked that question. If Hailey had been any other person that answer would have sufficed, but she wasn't, so it didn't.

 

“Ah, but what if you could marry a _woman_?” Jean did a double take at her companion and Hailey bumped shoulders with her knowingly with a side of cheekiness. However, her words were serious.

 

“That is a ridiculous suggestion!” Jean’s indignant exclamation was in contrast to her rather embarrassed expression. It seemed both women were carrying out a different sort of conversation than their spoken words conveyed.

 

“Is it?” Of course Hailey was the one to cut through the coyness and get straight to the point. “Because I'd be the marrying kind if that was the case.” Hailey raised her eyebrows and leaned closer as the atmosphere became considerably more intimate.

 

“Hailey…” Jean warned the younger woman, wondering if she truly understood the territory she was encroaching on. Hailey caught Jean’s eye and impulsively pressed her lips against the older woman’s. She felt Jean yield to her briefly before she respectfully pulled away, just a little.

 

Hailey had a compulsion to apologise even though she wasn’t sorry that she had kissed her British friend. It was more out of fear of being thrown off the case as a consequence of her misjudgement. Like the others, this was the most excitement and sense of purpose she’d had in the eleven years since the war had ended.

 

“I… I’m sorry…” Hailey sank back against the cushions wondering whether she'd just made a ‘right cracked stupid’ decision.

 

“Hailey…” Jean started again and her tone of voice set off a deep frustration in the younger woman. She was well used to people assuming her naivety because of her relative youth.

 

“No, you know what? I _know_ what I want, who I am, _what_ I am. Please don’t patronise me by saying I don’t.” Hailey hadn’t quite understood it herself until more recently than she cared to admit, but she’d known how Jean had made her feel from the moment they’d met. The bubble of excitement in the pit of her stomach hadn’t just been from the thrill of using her brain and ingenuity to help solve these local murders.

 

“I wouldn’t dare. If anything, I’m the one who doesn’t know what she wants. I’ve had to hide all my life Hailey, dark corners, staying discreet, clandestine meetings…” Jean flicked her gaze to the door of the flat as though to emphasise her point. Fortunately Iris was at home with her family for the evening before Marcus shipped out and Millie was out catching up with her cousin Edward as they attempted to repair their fractured relationship. Jean had a suspicion as to why he'd been so reluctant to have family so close to his new life in San Francisco but she had felt it wasn't her place to say. She was quite sure that Millie was intelligent enough to work it out herself anyway. “I also have every intention of going back to London, eventually, so I can’t make you a promise I know I won’t keep.” Despite her words, Jean had turned herself closer towards her American counterpart and reached out towards Hailey to brush aside some hair that had fallen free of its clip.

 

“You don’t think I’ve seen enough to realise that life isn’t all fairytales and happy endings? Why do you think I ended up all the way down here in the first place? Can’t we just ‘live for the moment’ as they say?” Hailey had already lived so much more than most girls did in a lifetime but she'd long ago worked out that she wasn't like ‘most girls’ anyway.

 

“I don’t want to hurt you.” And Jean didn't, she knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of a broken heart and the pain never really went away, no matter how much she’d moved on and how many years had passed. And yet she continued to maintain the intimacy between them as she ran her fingertips along the younger woman’s cheek.

 

“I should think we’re equally capable of hurting each other.” Hailey wasn't ignorant of human failings, even with the best of intentions.

 

“I’m also twenty years older than you.” Give or take a couple of years, but even rounding down their age difference still adequately made Jean’s point.

 

“And you think that’s the strangest thing you’ve known after all we went through during the war? Not to mention the stuff we’ve seen since?” Jean had to concede that Hailey did have a point. Hailey leaned closer to Jean, closing the last little bit of space between them and kissed her again. This time Jean kissed her back with fervor and didn't stop.

 

Hailey undid the buttons of Jean’s shirt, one by one until she revealed her bra covering full breasts. Jean was feminine and curvy and Hailey felt boyish and shapeless in comparison. But overwhelmed by her feelings for Jean and the fact that they were really making out on the sofa, Hailey had no time to stop and dwell on it. She climbed into Jean’s lap and straddled either side of her right leg, so that she could get a better angle.

 

Hailey’s kisses ventured down to Jean’s neck, behind her ear and journeyed all the way to between her breasts. Jean’s hands naturally found their way to Hailey’s waist and then backside to keep her steady. Hailey found her left nipple through the fabric and took it between her teeth, giving it a little nip and suck. Jean squirmed and sighed with the attention, relishing in a feeling she hadn't enjoyed in quite a while. Their lips met in another passionate kiss and Jean knew they'd have to move before Millie potentially arrrived home early and interrupted them.


	2. The Morning After

Millie was already sat at the table, coffee and fag in hand when Jean appeared from their shared bedroom the following morning. Jean had awoken with her arms wrapped around Hailey’s warm, naked body from behind and the sound of her deep, gentle breathing. Seeing as they hadn't been abruptly turfed out of bed in the middle of the night, Jean knew that Millie was aware that she'd had someone in there with her. It hadn't ever been something they'd had reason to bring up before and Jean didn't know how Millie was going to react, although it was clear she at least respected her right to take a lover.

 

“How much do you know?” Jean sat herself down next to Millie and helped herself to a cup of strong, dark tea from the pot. She looked uncharacteristically sheepish as she prepared to face the music from her best friend. 

 

“Oh Jean, I don't know whether to give you a round of applause or tell you off for forcing me to sleep on the settee!” It was said in jest but the anxiety still sat in the pit of Jean’s stomach. There was a noise from down the hall and both looked up in time to hear the bathroom door click shut.

 

“They’re still here?!” Millie exclaimed excitedly, hoping Jean would let her in on the juicy details before they were joined by the mystery person. 

 

“Look Millie, there's something you need to know…there are some things that have gone without saying in our friendship and some things that have remained... unspoken _. _ ” Jean was stumbling over herself to find the right words for her revelation. 

 

“What on  _ earth _ are you going on about?” 

 

“It’s a she... the person who I spent the night with is a woman.”  

 

“Well of course she is!” Millie paused when she took in Jean’s shocked expression. “Did you think that I didn't know you were queer?  _ How _ long have we known each other Jean?” It was a rhetorical question.  

 

“You never said anything?”

 

“Neither did you!”

 

“But you always insinuated otherwise?” 

 

“Only because I thought you were keeping up some sort of pretence! You didn’t seem to want to acknowledge it or talk about it, so I didn’t.” Jean was grateful for Millie’s understanding and tact but she wished they’d spoken about this sooner as well, things could have been so different. It was yet another thing to remind Jean that despite her age and experience, she still had things to learn just like everyone else. Hailey wandered into the living room bare-footed, her essentials just about covered up by her underwear and Jean’s shirt from the evening before. 

 

“Hey!” Her overly-cheery greeting masked the fact that her heart was hammering in her chest, not quite knowing how Jean was going to feel about her in the cold light of day. She’d awoken in the middle of the night, having dozed off after their lovemaking, and had made some half-hearted noises about going home. Jean had persuaded her to stay, not that it had taken much, z and they’d settled down comfortably to sleep wrapped around each other. Next thing she knew, she’d awoken alone in Jean’s bed and to the sound of the two women chatting quietly in the living room. Millie raised her eyebrows at Jean not only in response to Hailey’s attire but for her to speak first and break the awkward silence.

 

“Come and sit yourself down. Do you want some tea?” Hailey nodded and pulled out the chair between Jean and Millie at the table, although she angled it closer towards Jean. Jean poured Hailey’s tea from the teapot and added a dash of milk before she placed it in front of her. Hailey grabbed it with both hands and proceeded to gulp it down out of nervousness. The cup clinked loudly on the saucer as she set it back down on the table. 

 

“Sorry, this is just a little…  _ new _ for me.” Millie tried not to choke on her own tea at the implication in Hailey’s words. Jean gave Hailey an affectionate smile as she reached out to clasp her hand across the table. 

 

“It’s not exactly an everyday occurrence for me either.” Jean ran her thumb over the back of Hailey’s hand to reassure her. They shared an intense look and a shy smile before Millie broke the mood. 

 

“Oi, lovebirds! I am still in the room you know.” Hailey snatched her hand away from Jean’s, embarrassed and worried that Millie wasn’t particularly keen on this development between them. 

“I should go get dressed and get out of your hair...” 

 

“You don't have to, not on my account.” Millie reassured her, having picked up on her dejected tone.

 

“Hailey?” Jean asked her lover gently, unsure what had disturbed her. 

 

“Are you both okay with this? Only, I'm a bit confused if I'm honest.” Millie laughed kindly. 

 

“I’ve known Jean was as queer as a nine bob note since Bletchley. If I’d have had a problem with it she’d have known about it by now.” Hailey sighed deeply in relief but then scrunched her face up in confusion. 

 

“Who’s Bob?” Jean smiled broadly at the younger woman and chuckled gently. Mille privately thought that being in love seemed to have lifted Jean’s spirit considerably.  

 

“I’ll explain British currency to you later. But apart from that, everything I said last night still stands, so please don’t worry.” 

 

“We’ll all have to get ready and dressed sooner rather than later I’m afraid. I agreed we’d meet Iris in town at ten to do some more investigating.” Jean nodded her head and took another sip of her tea. 

 

“Please don’t say anything to Iris about this, I don’t think she’d understand.” Hailey almost pleaded with Millie and Jean. 

 

“Of course she will, she should understand more than anyone what it’s like to be different.” Millie responded, surprised by Hailey’s assessment of her friend. When they’d first met Iris, it hadn’t taken Millie and Jean long for them to have witnessed just some of the unfavourable comments she had to endure on a daily basis simply due to the colour of her skin. It had shocked them to see it first hand but they had already known it went on both in San Francisco and back home in the UK.  

 

“She’s a woman of strong faith, our sort aren’t really tolerated by the church.” Hailey addressed Jean hoping she’d understand what she meant. 

 

“But she's also your friend.” Jean reasoned, even though she’d had plenty of experience to the contrary. 

 

“Yeah, one of the only ones I got… so I'd like to keep it that way.” To be honest, Jean hadn't exactly been thrilled at the prospect of Millie knowing about her private affairs, let alone anyone else, so she wasn't concerned whether Iris knew or not. However, it seemed Hailey and Iris shared a similar close friendship to her and Millie and could probably do with the other woman’s support. She and Millie would have to find a way to bring up the subject as casually as they could at some point in the future.  

 

“I can understand that. Neither of us will say anything to Iris unless you want us to. Come on, we’d better sort ourselves out.” Jean and Hailey left Millie at the table while they went back to the bedroom to get dressed. Jean gently grabbed Hailey and pulled the younger woman to her. They kissed passionately and Hailey’s fears were at least settled for the time being.  

 

“I’m still here!” They heard Millie call out from the living room and they broke into giggles. Whatever this thing was between them, it was going to be fun exploring and hopefully they’d both eventually get the blessing and support that they needed from their respective best friends. 


End file.
